The FISA was designed to eliminate Fourth Amendment violations, and was put in place in the wake of accusations that President Richard Nixon had used wiretaps to spy on political rivals. The act only allowed for warrantless wiretaps if one of the parties was "reasonably believed" to be outside the U.S.

While well intentioned, perhaps the FISA left open the door to abuse by putting domestic surveillance mechanisms in place. While the bill criminalized abuse, with a penalty of up to five years in jail, it has been difficult to prove abuse allegations against ranking federal officials.

As with many kind of domestic spying over the last decade, usage went up and accountability went down. It's hard to say exactly what the results are -- because the public isn't privileged with that information.

But from past warrantless surveillance program reviews, one could safely assume that the program was often used for its intended purpose (fighting terrorism) -- but also often abused in a variety of ways.

William Binney, a codebreaker for the U.S. National Security Agency -- one of the chief wiretapping intelligence agencies -- quit his post in 2001 when he began to witness abuse; U.S. citizens being illegitimately snooped on.

[Image Source: Djibnet]

He commented in a speech at this year's Defcon hacker conference, "NSA's charter was to do foreign intelligence, and I was with that all the way. But then they took those systems that I built and they turned them on you, and I'm sorry about that."

Both President Obama and former Mass. Governor and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney are both of the same mind when it comes to this provision and others which will likely lead to spying on American citizens -- they love them. Both men have vocally supported the extension to the warrantless wiretaps and in support of other kinds of spying, arguing that the need for safety outweighs Americans' need for certain freedoms like privacy.

With such sweeping bipartisan support, the spying on American citizens and erosion liberties is likely to continue to be enjoyed and be advanced in years to come, assuming there is not a radical change in party leadership or some other radical shift in the American political atmosphere.

Quoting famous people in history that had no foresight of current events is fallacy at its finest. I would bet good money that most of our founding fathers would have been more than willing to turn certain countries/areas into a "glass parking lot" as the saying goes. They were not afraid to fight for what they wanted and they had no problem breaking all the rules to do it. If you were taught American history correctly, you would know that the British labeled the colonial combatants as terrorists. We targeted officers first with sharp shooters and fought them using guerilla warfare tactics that the Native Americans used against us. The British were appalled that we would fight in such an uncivilized manner, the fact that we targeted commanders/officers first was discraceful in their eyes. Guess what? We won. Fighting fair is for idiots, history is written by the winners, never forget that.

Don't think for a second that Americans are above doing whatever is necessary to accomplish their goals. This country was founded on that style of leadership and has thus far not waivered much in continuing that proud tradition. I only hope Americans have the spine and guts necessary to keep this trend going, but it isn't looking so good lately.

Alright, well just so we are clear, your whole history lesson was something I've known for quite along time. Though it doesn't exactly apply to Americans doing whatever is necessary to accomplish their goals. Considering other than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, all we are doing is giving up our rights every day to be "safe".The problem is, we no longer do the things that are necessary because we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. However, I completely doubt the founding fathers fought all those years ago for the very same government they created, to do the same damn thing to its citizens. Not to mention the whole part about the British calling the colonials terrorists and the U.S. currently calling certain groups all over the world terrorists isn't making a great point. Simply because you justified everything they are doing because we do/did it. Just saying. Remember, they are the enemy, not me, not you, and neither are the rest of the citizens of America.

quote: If you were taught American history correctly, you would know that the British labeled the colonial combatants as terrorists

And as we all know, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Which is all the more ironic considering the role the CIA has played in arming 'freedom fighters' all over the world, only to have them turn into terrorists later.

quote: Don't think for a second that Americans are above doing whatever is necessary to accomplish their goals. This country was founded on that style of leadership and has thus far not waivered much in continuing that proud tradition. I only hope Americans have the spine and guts necessary to keep this trend going, but it isn't looking so good lately.

Your reply doesn't negate anything he said. Just because events in history may have occurred long ago doesn't make them irrelevant. Usually they happen again and again because these problems are just a reflection of ourselves.

As long as you have humans, you're always going to have corruption, you're always going to have terrorism, and you're always going to have certain elements within your own ranks that only serve to make your team weaker.

While Benjamin Franklin had no idea what was going to happen long after he died, I think that he was describing a concept that remains pretty much constant- that giving up your freedom in order to achieve safety is a slippery slope; a fallacy that doesn't yield you what you want.

Yes, there's a balancing act between security and freedom and the scales have been tipping against freedom in the US as of late. All governments who can spy on its citizens will do so, legally or illegally. I just don't understand why people are so quick to make it legal. As least when it's illegal the citizens have some recourse through the legal system.

The government should need to jump through some hoops to justify spying on its own citizens. Making spying have less friction just enables more abuse of power.

To truly be safer, we need to have a reasonable number of security checks (borders, shipping, planes, etc.), invest in solid foreign intelligence, have a ready military and everyone needs to keep their eyes open. What we don't want to do is get into the "more government power is always better" mindset because that is just setting up the citizenry for governmental oppression.

I say it should be a two-way street. If the Government wants to have warrantless wiretapping and observation of citizens, then we the people should likewise have the same. We should be able to delve into Government records, all the way up to the highest level of classified and secret without any permit, paperwork or identification.

Fat chance getting them to do that. It's amazing what our citizens will buy into these days. We've been bent over a barrel for a long time now and they don't even realize it.